ABSTRACT
Self envy arises as a result of the early traumatic experience in relating, W. Bion described the breakdown of the earliest interchange between mother and child as a primitive psychic disaster. Envy, often accompanied by rage and violence, is a defence against shame. Self envy is always associated with self-destructiveness. In self envy, the same emotions are described but instead of being projected into others in the external world, they are experienced as being directed towards the internal self that represents the creative part of the adult self. Self envy means there exists a "goodness within" that may arouse envy. Self envy is a more common conflict than we have previously thought it to be. Anything that links love, the happy couple, family harmony, and so on, will generate very painful feelings of envy, always creating the scenario that it is unattainable for the excluded part of the envier. This chapter discuses case studies about Rose and Caroline.
